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Jochen Wuerges%, Bjoern Sjoblom, Maurizio Polentarutti and Kristina Djinovic Carugo$
%Department of Chemical Sciences - via Giorgeri 1 - 34127 Trieste - Italy
Structural Biology Laboratory. ELETTRA - Sincrotrone Trieste in Area Science Park, S.S. 14 Km 163,5 loc. Basovizza, 34012 Trieste, Italy
$Institute for Theoretical Chemistry and Molecular Structural Biology, University of Vienna, Dr.-Bohr-Gasse 9, A-1030 Vienna, Austria
Radiation damage has been receiving a considerable attention because the X-ray source at third generation synchrotrons are so intense that macromolecular crystals are rapidly degraded during data collection. The effects of radiation damage range from reduction of disulphide bonds, photo-induced modifications on side-chains to reduction of metal centres in metallo enzymes.
We will present two examples of X-ray geared reactions on protein crystals, that evolved during diffraction data collection using intense synchrotron radiation: (I) reduction of Ni3+ in the active site of nickel containing superoxide dismutase (II) processing of carbon dioxide bound to the active site of carbonic anhydrase, forming the product HCO3-.
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